After hanging up, Pei Qian began to worry again.
Why did the other companies that he was not familiar with want to join in as well?
Pei Qian guessed the answer very quickly.
He looked at the first few companies that entered. There were investment companies, real estate companies, second-generation heirs, and gaming companies. What’s more, corporate giants like Shenhua Real Estate were among them!
What level was Shenhua Real Estate at? If Now that they were dabbling in the football league now, the transfer fee for each player would be more than twenty million yuan!
And it would be even higher in a few years.
At the beginning, the domestic soccer league was also half-dead. However, after Shenhua Real Estate and a few other large real estate companies entered the arena, they started to spend money crazily and instantly became famous. Although the clubs had been burning money the whole time, the corporations had earned big time from saving their advertising fees.
Shenhua Real Estate could buy an entire e-sports club with just one footbal player’s transfer fee. What’s more, they could get results directly. It was quite worth it.
Boss Pei was in charge of the GPL. If he succeeded, everyone would be happy. If he failed, they would just throw away the ten million yuan. They would not feel the pinch.
However, Shenhua Real Estate’s entrance had become a windmark at once!
Previously, the television programmes had already been calling for more companies to work more with Tengda, promising that there would be no disadvantages. That was why Tengda’s current actions were being watched by many large companies.
One move and they would immediately approach Tengda.
After all, Tengda had created so many business miracles and excavated so many industry trends. That was no lie.
On top of that, a famous economist had written about the ‘Tengda business model’. Its appeal could not be underestimated.
Now that the GPL league slots and ready-made teams were being sold, these companies immediately felt like they had a business opportunity.
E-Sports Clubs had never made money before, but what had they been like earlier?
There were ordinary rich second-generation heirs who played games, young internet addicts who organized themselves, and those who had been developed by training workspaces… In short, there were no formidable rivals whatsoever.
Yet, what companies were bidding for GPL?
Shenhua, a local corporate giant. Shenhua Real Estate was a top player in the domestic football industry.
Although Xue Zhebin was also a rich second-generation heir, he was different from other rich second-generation heirs. His family was especially rich.
Sun Strike Studios was one of the top games studios in the country. Although it was not as famous as Tengda, it also made a lot of money.
What was this?
They were formidable rivals!
They were on a completely different level from the bosses and investors behind the previous clubs. How could they compare?
These people all felt that the GPL was promising, which meant that it was definitely profitable. Once they appeared on the scene, more capital would surely follow.
Therefore, all the companies that had been paying attention to Tengda immediately expressed their desire to bid.
They did not care about the public opinion at all.
Public opinion could be influenced and induced. What’s more, how would ordinary netizens know the inside story? They were all just there to watch the show.
The ones who really decided how these companies would choose were the leading companies!
Pei Qian was instantly discouraged.
He was done for!
All those companies wanted to buy GOG’s branches and join the GPL league. However, there were only six clubs prepared to sell GOG’s branches. Didn’t that mean that they had found third parties to buy all the teams on hand?
In other words, Tengda would not have to back the teams up or pay the penalty.
He wanted to vomit blood!
A good opportunity to burn money had been ruined by these people!
Initially, Pei Qian had been looking forward to the bidding. He had hoped that none of the GOG teams would be taken over. Then, he would happily accept them.
Now, it seemed boring.
That was because whether these GOG teams would sell or not would have nothing to do with him. Tengda could not compete with those third-party buyers.
Pei Qian sighed silently.
Forget it, I’ll leave it at that. I’ll just treat it as a wasted effort.
However, just as Pei Qian took two sips of coffee, his phone rang again.
He picked it up and saw that it was Zhang Yuan.
Pei Qian: “?”
He quickly answered the phone.
“Boss Pei! I just told the six clubs about the auction, and then… Ai, Boss Pei, you already guessed it, didn’t you?”
Pei Qian: “?”
What do you mean?!
Can you not stop mid-sentence?!
Pei Qian was speechless. “And then…?”
Zhang Yuan said excitedly, “Then, three of the clubs decided not to sell!
Pei Qian was stunned.
Not to sell?
Can’t you keep to the spirit of the contract? You said you were going to sell it. How could you change your mind?
Ai, that’s not right. Didn’t they already sign the contract?
Pei Qian was a little puzzled. “Didn’t we already sign the agency contract? If they don’t sell it, they’ll have to pay the penalty fee!”
Zhang Yuan laughed. “Boss Pei, that’s why you’re so smart!
“Those clubs did want to sell their GOG teams at a higher price at the beginning. They planned to buy an internet cafe team at a lower price in the future to fight their way back.
“That was exactly why they signed the contract.
“However, the situation has changed completely!
“Shenhua and about ten other companies ended up bidding for the teams. Although they have not officially started bidding, the value of the teams would definitely increase by thirty to forty percent!
“That’s not a good thing. Those clubs know very well that, although they could sell their teams for a high price now, a number of huge companies outside are also eyeing their GPL spots!
“Since there are already so many people fighting for GPL spots even before it’s started, wouldn’t there be more to fight for them in the future?
“They have figured it out. Once they sell their teams and GPL spots for about ten million yuan, it would be difficult to buy them back in the future – even if they offer thirty or forty million yuan!
“Yet, they could not just decide not to sell. They have signed the contract.
“That’s why they would much rather pay two to three million yuan for breaching the contract than sell their teams! If they sold their teams, they would incur more losses in the future!
“Boss Pei, another little trick from you and we’ve earned another ten million yuan!”
As Pei Qian listened to Zhang Yuan’s elated voice over the phone, he fell into a daze.
No, I added the penalty clause because I was planning to pay for it myself!
I wasn’t trying to earn money from these clubs!
Still, it was too late to say anything now. The contracts had been signed. There was no possibility of Tengda breaching the contract now.
He could only take the ten million yuan from those three clubs tearfully!
At that moment, Pei Qian was speechless.
“Then… what about the other three clubs that insisted on selling their teams? Is SUG still selling their team?” Pei Qian asked.
Zhang Yuan: “SUG is still selling! Obviously, those three companies are being stubborn; they’re still betting. They firmly believe that if they sell now, they can sell at a peak, and they’ll have a chance to enter again in the future.”
Pei Qian: “…”
He did not know if he should feel happy or sad.
Hearing no response from the other end of the line, Zhang Yuan asked, “Boss Pei, what about… the bidding? We were going to sell six teams, but we can only sell three now.”
Pei Qian felt like he had nothing to live for. “What do you think?”
He could not think now. Since things had already come to this, he could sell whatever he wanted.
Or did Zhang Yuan have other ideas?
Zhang Yuan smiled and said, “Boss Pei, I think the same as you.”
Pei Qian: “?”
The same as me? What do I think?
Zhang Yuan continued, “Did you expect that there would only be a small number of clubs left?”
“There are more than ten companies bidding now, but there are only three spots left. The buyers will definitely raise the price crazily!
“After all, none of these companies are short of money. What’s more, people tend to buy things with inflated prices rather than deflated prices. The scarcer the supply , the more intense the competition!
“We’ll allow them to bid for the three slots first. We still have more slots for the GPL. We’ll release two or three more in the next wave so that the companies can fight somemore…
“This cycle would definitely maximize GPL’s profits…”
Pei Qian shuddered in fear. “Absolutely not!”
Zhang Yuan: “?”
Just listening to Zhang Yuan’s description, Pei Qian could already foresee his tragic future.
Pei Qian heaved a long sigh. “How many GPL slots do we have left?”
Zhang Yuan was stunned for a moment. “Er, Boss Pei, didn’t we plan to arrange for 12 to 16 teams at first? There are a total of ten established clubs in Jingzhou. Four of them are not for sale. Of the six that we planned to sell, three are intending to back out and pay the penalty.
“Therefore, apart from the GPL slots for the three clubs that we still have to sell, we still have two to six slots. You have decided how many we can release.”
Pei Qian immediately said, “Throw out the remaining six slots! Don’t leave a single one!”
If he really did as Zhang Yuan said and sold them one by one, he would definitely make more profits.
He couldn’t allow that!
Those companies were already eyeing the GPL spots. Since he could not persuade them all to leave the market, he could only sell them all at once, while the price of the GPL spots was not very high.
He would earn more now, but less in the future, right?
He had to choose the lesser of two evils. Since they were both profitable, he had to choose the less profitable option.
Zhang Yuan was stunned for a moment. “Sell them all? It would be difficult to expand in the future, Boss Pei.
“What’s more, if we release so many slots at once, the price of each slot would definitely be lowered. It’s not worth it.”
The more teams there were in the league, the more tightly packed the schedule would be. Sixteen teams meant that there would probably be one or two days of rest in a week. The rest of the time could be taken up by matches.
That was an unimaginable thing for the current E-Sports scene.
Most games did not even have a league. Even if they did, there would only be five or six teams fighting.
Yet, the GPL wanted 16 teams right from the start?
Was there a need?
Zhang Yuan felt that it would be best if there were 12 teams, and if he added one every year. That would be the best way to maximize profits.
Pei Qian was determined. “Don’t think about the future. Sell all the slots now!”
Zhang Yuan: “Then… what would the base price be?”
Pei Qian pondered for a moment and said, “There’s no base price. They’ll bid as much as they can.”
Zhang Yuan was stunned. “Boss Pei, we’ll have to extend the deadline then, right? After all, we did not say that we would be selling GPL slots. Now that we suddenly decided to sell it, we’ll have to give everyone a few days to prepare, right?”
Pei Qian was silent.
Plans could not keep up with changes.
Initially, he had not intended to sell the GPL slots. However, since the price would increase as time went by, he decided to sell them as soon as possible. It would be best if he sold them at a low price before anyone realized how valuable they were.
That would minimize pitfalls in the future.
“Give everyone three days, then. The auction will begin in three days. The GOG teams of the three clubs and the remaining six GPL spots will be auctioned together!
“We’ll take as much as we can and do nothing to raise our prices!”
